260125 January 25, 2016

Seven Reasons Why Your High School Best Friends

Are For Life

Times may change, but close friends stay the same.

Last week I saw on Facebook a list done by Alexa Liguori in The List on Oct 20, 2015, giving seven reasons why he felt your high school best friends are for life. In his list he explained in one or two sentences why he justified each statement, but since I do not want to violate any copyright, I will omit his explanations and only give you the seven reasons he listed.

1. You guys spent every day with each other for four years straight.

2. They've seen you look your worst, and they've seen you at your best.

3. You basically grew up with them.

4. These are the people that you made mistakes with.

5. Even after college, these friends will still be there.

6. You have a countless amount of inside jokes.

7. Overall, you guys are like a family.

While I agree with his statements, I have added a few of my own to make it 15 Reasons Why Your High School Best Friends Are Friends for Life

8. You are the same age (and still feel like teenagers when together)

It is upsetting on many levels to find yourself in a crowd either much older or much younger than you are. In both instances you find you do not have the common ground of memories of events or things in your life that is in harmony with the others.

9. You grew up with the same music

No matter what genre of music you like at your current age, you share the musical history of those you grew up with. You know the same words, the same sounds, the same beat. It is not uncommon to break into a "sing along" when you hear a familiar song - sometimes in a duet.

10. You know the same dances (crazy or sane)

When people show up on the "Dance Cam" at sporting events, you have no idea what moves they are doing. During your high school days you had dances you enjoyed together, no matter how crazy the moves were or the names of the dances. At reunions, you still have it Baby!

11. You learned love and heartbreak together

You best friends knew who you liked, and when that like turned to love. You shared with them who you went to second base with, or who you wanted to, and when and where it all happened.

12. You remember each other's homes, families, and cars

Your common memories are not just of each other, but of the total family environment of your best friend. You knew your way around their house, knew their phone numbers, knew their mothers, dads, brothers and sisters, and even the quirks of their mode of transportation.

13. You were in the same churches or organizations

While you did not do everything together, there were certain social organizations you shared, even if it was just a Wednesday night pot-luck or youth group hayride or camping trip.

14. You planned your futures together

It was your best friend who knew what you dreamed of doing, not only your desired profession, but your future family plans - sometimes even better than you did.

15. You've had all the years since then to remember the good times together

Memories don't die (even if the best friend does.) No matter how long ago you did things with your best friend, you still remember and sometimes even embellish the stories, but you know you will go to your own grave with those times fresh in your thoughts.

Memphis, TN - I got a panicked email this week saying some of you had received an email that appeared to be from me but wasn't.

My first reaction was my email account had been hacked, but upon further investigation of the content of the email I found it was not my account but someone else's (probably one of you) who had my email in their address book. The way this spoof (what it is called) works is that someone's email address book gets compromised after clicking on a link. Then the program will take one name out of the address book and send out five messages to other names in the book, and say it is from the first name it selects at random. So, in this case it sent out mail saying it came from me, but was really sent by another mail server. My email and my list of email addresses was not compromised and not infected.

This is just a reminder to always check the content of an email before you react to anything inside it. If you are not expecting someone to send you something, it does not matter who the email says it is from, it may be spoofed. Never click on a link ending in .php especially, unless you absolutely know it was sent to you on purpose. A quick email asking the sender what it is will clear up most problems.

Last week I wrote I had a story on an egging incident when I was in high school, but could not find it. Well I did, but it is so long I can only put a link to it and let you read it on its own page. Click on the link below.

I never egged anyone's home or car in high school. Let me tell you why!

When I was around 10 years old , I and some friends of mine didn't like a neighbor of ours. We decided to egg his home.

Unknowingly ,we didn't realize he was at home the day we decided to egg his home. We egged his home as well as his bedroom window, which woke him up and we were caught red handed. (Don't egg someone's house during daylight and they are home.)

As you can see, not very well planned out! We run and hide in a field, knowing we were in serious trouble.

My father told me to come out of the field or the punishment would be more severe.

Trust me,I can't imagine the punishment being anymore severe! Between a whipping, a preaching, a grounding for misbehavior, an apology to my neighbor and cleaning his house, I learned a valuable lesson that day

Funny now but not then!

The Virtual Jukebox

This Week's Selections by

Escoe German Beatty

LHS ‘65

With my Quarter I would play…

#1. “Where The Boys
Are” by Connie Francis

This song
reminds me of a time of transition in our lives when we were changing from
little girls into teenagers with hopes and dreams of finding that special
‘dream boat’ fantasy boy that would appear and sweep us off our feet.

Where the Boys Are

#2. “You’ve Lost That
Loving Feeling” by The Righteous Brothers

This song is a true ‘Classic’. It follows on the heels of my previous memory
as what happens after that special fantasy guy appears and then disappears!

You'v Lost That Loving Feeling

#3. “I’ve Got You Babe”
by Sonny and Cher

This was mine and Bill’s song (as well as about half the
rest of civilization!) Thankfully it
worked out better for us than Sonny and Cher!!

I've Got You Babe

From Our Mailbox

Subject: Huckleberry

Mike Crowl

LHS ‘65

People have sometimes asked the meaning of the phrase ( huckleberry friend ) in Moon River. As a child, Mercer picked huckleberries (like wild blueberries) in the summer. To him the berries had a personal connection with a carefree boyhood, strengthened by association with Mark Twain's character Huckleberry Finn.

The implication was that Holly Golightly who was actually of hillbilly stock,and Huckleberry Finn might well have been friends if ever they had met.

Subject: Huckleberry

Sarajane Steigerwald Tarter

LHS ‘65

I love the song Moon River and have wondered about the Huckleberry Friend verse.

This is what I found on the internet:

The lyrics, written by Mercer, are reminiscent of his childhood in Savannah, Georgia, including its waterways. As a child, he had picked huckleberries in summer, and connected them with a carefree childhood and Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. Another entry said it was about a friend who picked huckleberries with Mercer.

Even if this isn't true I like the idea that he honored a friend in his song.)

BTW, I am also a HUGE fan of Audrey Hepburn. I even have an outfit (including shoes) that I call my Audrey outfit. I channel her when I wear it.

(Editor's Note: For some odd reason, "Huckleberry" also became a topic on Facebook this week and here is something I copied that was posted by a friend.)

Riverboat John Ferguson

January 20 at 9:54am ·

"Huckleberry" was commonly used in the 1800's in conjunction with "persimmon" as a small unit of measure. "I'm a huckleberry over your persimmon" meant "I'm just a bit better than you."

As a result, "huckleberry" came to denote idiomatically two things. First, it denoted a small unit of measure, a "tad," as it were, and a person who was a huckleberry could be a small, unimportant person--usually expressed ironically in mock self-depreciation. The second and more common usage came to mean, in the words of the "Dictionary of American Slang: Second Supplemented Edition" (Crowell, 1975):

I'm sorry to hear about your "egging" lately - that has to be a bummer even to find upon waking. It's a different world, for sure, than how we were raised.

As I was reading John's input in the newsletter about the "records" of our day, I got to thinking about the records we still have in our house... What do you all suggest we do with them? Sell them? Keep them? etc. I could still probably play them on "new" old-style-turn-table with a cassette player and a CD player/recorder that Roy gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago. But really don't ever think to do it - or have a reason to. So if anyone has any suggestions of what to do with the albums, I'd love to hear from you.

It is amazing to think - looking back over our generation at all of the unique "inventions" (for lack of a better word) that came and went and now seem practically extinct especially to this generation. I'm still laughing at the young boy's question, "Dad, what's a record?" So, so true. We are finding, however, that goes around, comes back around, just in new packaging and bit more "modern." Guess that gives us something to look forward to.